The Lincoln County Emergency Management team, Wellston Emergency Management team and six other jurisdictions worked together last week to break down pallets, count and divide personal protective equipment (PPE) for 60 school districts, which included nine in Lincoln County.
The PPE included reusable face masks for adults and students, gloves, face shields and disposable gowns.
Lincoln County Emergency Management Director Wendi Marcy said they divided the PPE based on enrollment numbers determined by the State Department of Education.
“They used enrollment numbers to determine how much the schools would get,” she said. “It was to augment what they already had purchased for the school year.”
Marcy said it was not for the whole school year but to augment what they already had purchased and get them started through the first couple months of school.
“It’s a very beneficial program,” she said.
“Especially being implemented at the beginning of the school year it just gets them off to a good start where they’re not out a whole lot of money at the beginning of the year.”
Daunting was the word Marcy used to describe counting, organizing and dividing all the PPE for 60 school districts.
“I think it, hopefully, gives the parents some peace of mind, that there’s some protection in place for the staff and the students as well,” she said. “It’s a good program.”
Marcy said school districts have been encouraged to purchase PPE, which is reimbursable through the Cares Act.
Chandler Superintendent Melody Toma said they had already purchased PPE for their district since school started Aug. 13, but it’ll be nice to have back up supplies.
“We’re grateful for it without a doubt,” she said. “We will be distributing student masks and will be keeping the teacher masks as backups. We’ve already purchased masks for our staff.”
Toma said they received 1,700 masks for students.
“That’ll help give kids access to masks,” she said. “We had tried to purchase enough, but this helps us even further along.”
Toma said one of the items they didn’t have much of were the gowns.
Toma said they received 1,300 gowns and will be using them in classrooms that have close contact with their students, like the special education classrooms, and giving them to the janitors to use.
Meeker Superintendent Jeff Pruitt said they had purchased masks for their staff, but none for the students due to not knowing the number of students they would have in traditional school versus virtual school, the size of masks to get, or the kind that would work best for the kids.
“It’s something that school districts, in tough budget times, it’s appreciative that those items are available,” he said. “Anytime you get something that doesn’t cost extra dollars for your district is always appreciated.”
Governor Kevin Stitt announced Thursday, July 30, that the State of Oklahoma would allocate $10 million of federal CARES Act funding to supply Oklahoma schools with PPE in order to open safely for in person learning.
“Schools are an essential part of our society,” Gov. Stitt said in the announcement.
“It is critically important that they operate safely and effectively for all students. I am committed to providing our schools with the resources and support they need in order to welcome students back to the classroom while also prioritizing their health.”